Jeb won't be able to run in '08 and win. The American people will want a change from da Bushes. They won't want another Bush. Jeb's misfortune is that he lost in 1994 to Lawton Chiles while his brother beat Ann Richards. Be Seeing You,
Chris
Posted on 06/18/2004 8:19:27 PM PDT by Angry Republican
FORT LEWIS, Wash. - Before cheering troops, President Bush got a strong endorsement on Iraq and a boost for his re-election campaign Friday from Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican courted by Democrat John Kerry to be his running mate.
Bush seemed to relish keeping McCain, his one-time rival for the presidency, out of Kerry's corner.
"Both candidates in this race are honored to be a friend of John McCain," Bush said at a campaign rally in Nevada. "Only one of us gets his vote. And I am proud that it is me."
McCain issued dire warnings about the threat from terrorists and backed the war to oust Saddam Hussein in words matching the starkest language Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have employed. The support from McCain came as the president is trying to counter rising questions about the invasion.
"Should the enemy acquire for their arsenal the chemical, biological and nuclear weapons they seek, this war (on terrorism) will become an even bigger thing: It will become a fight for survival," McCain told thousands of GIs at the Army base here. "That's why your courage is so indispensable to us."
Bush sat just behind McCain on a stage erected in an aircraft hangar, basking in the endorsement from his fierce opponent for the 2000 GOP presidential nomination. They seemed determined to project unity, heaping praise on each other with no mention of the bitter contest.
The president said of McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years in a Vietnamese POW camp: "When he speaks of service and sacrifice, he speaks from experience. ... The United States military has no better friend in the United States Senate than John McCain."
McCain said of Bush: "He has not wavered in his determination to protect this country and to make the world a better, safer, freer place. You will not yield, nor will he."
McCain said 26 soldiers from this base have died in recent combat; Bush met with some of their families after the speeches, and with wounded GIs.
He offered similar praise for the Iraq war and for Bush Friday evening in Reno, Nev., at the Bush campaign rally.
"I believe just as strongly as when we began our efforts there, this was noble, achievable and necessary," McCain told several thousand Bush backers. "And for his determination to undertake this task, for his unflagging resolve to see it through to the just end we see, he deserves not only our support but our admiration."
McCain has criticized Bush on certain issues - including tax cuts, the environment and Medicare - and has said more troops are needed in Iraq. He also has declined to join other Senate Republicans in criticizing Kerry, a friend, and has even defended Kerry over his defense record.
But Bush and McCain have sought a broader political detente, cooperating when it benefited both men. Earlier this year, Bush named McCain to the commission investigating intelligence used to justify the Iraq war.
For Bush, McCain's vigorous defense of the war was a welcome rebuttal to a report this week that called into question a central pillar of the case for war.
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks undercut the administration's insistent claims of a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. That comes on top of the administration's failure to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
In Nevada, Bush trumpeted his administration's efforts to clean up Lake Tahoe, but steered clear of a hot Nevada topic on which he has taken an unpopular stance.
Bush backs a nuclear waste dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, at Yucca Mountain. Democrats cast that as a broken promise because as a candidate in 2000, Bush had promised to wait for "sound science" before making his decision on the dump. Yet, dozens of scientific studies remain incomplete.
Terry McAuliffe, Democratic National Committee chairman, said Bush "lied to the citizens of Nevada and he did it for partisan political gain."
About 600 people demonstrated against Bush outside the convention hall, many of them drawn by the chance to air their opposition to the dump. Many others opposed the war in Iraq and carried signs promoting Kerry.
One protester held a sign that read, "Send Bush and nuclear waste to Texas!"
Bottom line: Bush DOES get a boost from McCain.
But the other thing you mentioned, it is a compelling serendipity that Kerry and his campaign have been making all these fawning overtures to McCain and now McCain is so ardently supporting Bush. It makes McCain look really irrelevant.
That's it. We're gonna have to agree to agree. I've had it with you. :)
"It makes McCain look really irrelevant."
And like sinkspur says, "Bottom line: Bush gets a boost." No matter how many ways you slice it dice it or sautee it, Bush gets the temporary bounce, while Kerry flounders yet again.
bip
And not just for the McCain endorsement. The Vladimir Putin news from today makes every single "Bush lied to take us to war" story look stupid and childish.
It was almost a good article until they decided to insert this lie.
So at least I'm trying to plug for him while I drive up and down Interstate 5 each day. Glad you got some good pictures and thanks for being there today. He's a great man and he should hear that from more of us.
"Like it or not, there are many pro-life voters who will NEVER vote for a pro-abortion candidate a heart beat away from oval office."
So if Guiliani were to be the VP pick, and the Dems and Greens run whoever they run, the pro-life voters sit this one out?
"I was driving my beatup pickup (more miles on it than the distance to the moon) and saw his plane takeoff and was glad of the BUSH bumper sticker I have had on for four years."
WARNING! If you are going to drive around Seattle with a BUSH bumper sticker, you better be driving something more reliable. hehehe
No kidding- I have a new bumper sticker that says "My heros have always been cowboys" with a picture of Reagan and Bush in cowboy hats. The day after Reagan was burried, I got a doule handed one finger salute from a jerk leftist stopped behind me at a light.
KVI radio a couple of weeks ago was talking about people being harrased in Seattle because of Bush signs or bumper stickers. They had many callers telling their stories.
Bush isn't going to dump Cheney... and if he does, it won't be a viable presidential candidate for '08. I think he is intentionally leaving the field open for Jeb.
Kerry's got no one to blame but himself. He kept bringing up McCain's name and this is where it gets him.
Jeb won't be able to run in '08 and win. The American people will want a change from da Bushes. They won't want another Bush. Jeb's misfortune is that he lost in 1994 to Lawton Chiles while his brother beat Ann Richards. Be Seeing You,
Chris
Wooo. Just got a shiver there for a second.
Sharp idea!
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